Back to Training

After taking a bit of time off so I could get over a sinus infection, Tessa and I got back to working on her Freestyle training tonight.



We warmed up and practiced Tessa's jumping, and her circles, and her leg weaves.


Then we took some time to focus on her heework.  One thing that I am really working on with Tessa is teaching her to stay up in position and drive with power as she moves on the outside of a circle.  I started out using peanut butter on a spoon, but it got her mouth too gummed up and she kept stopping to finish the peanut butter!  So, I changed to hot dogs, and that worked better.

It occurred to me that it would be best if she would drive toward a target stick, so after we did some practice with the hot dogs, I worked on teaching her to drive to the target stick.  That was fun.  At first I just c/t for her touching the star at the end of the target stick.  Then I started holding it behind my back and presented it to her so she could start to drive to it.  Finally, I tossed a treat and then held it out so she could run back to it and touch it.

I plan to continue with that until she is driving to it enthusiastically and then I will incorporate it into our heelwork.

It was a good session.  We have just over a month to fine tune her routine before the next competition.  It should be good.